Saturday, 26 November 2016

The baby trafficking racket busted on Monday took a chilling turn on Friday with the discovery of two skeletons and three skulls of newborns from a spot in North 24 Parganas district.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) also rescued 10 babies from Purbasha, a home for the specially abled, and recovered foreign exchange and gold from the owner of Sree Krishna Nursing Home that was at the centre of the racket.

One of the skeletons had the skull attached to it. The discovery of the skulls indicated that at least three babies were buried in the NGO premises.

“We have exhumed skeletons of two babies from the premises of an NGO of Maslandapur in North 24 Parganas. We suspect more bodies could have been buried there. At least 50 babies were trafficked through this racket in the past two years,” said Rajesh Kumar, additional director general, CID.

“The skeletons and skulls have been sent for post-mortem examination. If it is found that they were killed, sections relating to murder will be slapped on the culprits,” he added.

The foreign exchange kept by Partha Chatterjee, owner of the nursing home, proves that a few babies were sold to couples abroad.

The 10 babies found in the Thakurpukur home were aged between one to 10 months. They were sent to a state-run hospital.

CID sleuths raided several nursing homesin South 24 Parganas district in search of more babies. They said Purbasha and NGO Sujit Memorial Trust in Maslandapur served as “godowns” for the newborns.